Talks break down as cricket crisis deepens

[monson]

Talks break down as cricket crisis deepens


By Channaka de Silva

Sri Lankan cricket has reached the brink of the worst possible disaster since the rebel South African tour in the early eighties, with the possible exit of the top players from the national team to join the Indian Premier League (IPL) as compromise talks between administrators and players broke down yesterday.

Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene, former skipper Sanath Jayasuriya and Muttiah Muralitharan were among the top Sri Lankan players who were scheduled to meet the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) interim committee and the Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge at the Sports Ministry today for a final rounds of talks to arrive at a compromise over scheduling clash between the cash-rich IPL and a Sri Lanka team tour to England next year.However the players who met the minister and the SLC officials in an earlier round of discussions earlier this week, had refused to attend the meeting, and had instead sent Sri Lanka Cricketers Union representative Graeme Labrooy to meet the minister and hand over a letter outlining their stance on the matter in no uncertain terms.

"I cannot comment on the matter. Graeme went and met the minister today. We will sit down tomorrow to discuss the issue and will announce our decision" said Jayawardene yesterday.

However the SLC officials met the minister and had a round of talks for a short period of time but the issue remains a dead heat without the co-operation of the players.

SLC sources said that the cricketers had refused to budge and had warned that they are ready to take even extreme measures such as contemplating retirement from national team to honour the IPL contracts they have already signed, if they have no other choice. They have reportedly pointed out that the England tour was hastily arranged later by SLC officials without consulting the cricketers who were under IPL contracts.

Cricketers had complained the matter to the President Mahinda Rajapaksa as soon as they returned to the island after winning the Asia Cup in Pakistan and the President had advised the sports minister Lokuge to settle the issue through discussion between officials and players.

Players had signed the IPL contracts some time back, while SLC stepped in later to fill in for a cancelled tour to England by Zimbabwe. The stand off became worse after England refused to change the itinerary.

SLC officials have also refused to soften their position and have confirmed the tour with SLC Chief Executive Duleep Mendis signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the England and Wales Cricket Board.

"We have a memorandum of understanding with the England and Wales Cricket Board for the tour and we must honour that," SLC interim committee chairman Arjuna Ranatunga was quoted by media as saying yesterday.

http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Sections/frmNewsDetailView.aspx?ARTID=25472

 

[Intel_Nehalem]

mara wade ne ! ape players la ipl gahana yaida?

 

[3748755]

There’s a simple solution for this - - - -Kick Arjuna out of that position- - - Then every thing would fall back to place like it used to be.- - - BTW, Thanks 4 da info machan.

 

[DJ ASHAN]

owwwww

 

[ahamednishadh]

wonder y arujuna is doing lyk this.

signing contracts with other countries without asking his own team. damn man. he was a captain of the side once too. doesnt he understand this.

BTW i suspect arujuna has sum link wit da england cricket board. coz since he took office as SLC chief he had travelled to england lyk every month. dats wiered isnt it. and also england players refused to post pone da match coz they r against da IPL as da EWCB is also trying to organize sumthing simmilar. their biggest threat is da IPL. and in IPL who r da stars?? well sri lankans mostly!.

 

[amilajohn]

I'm on the players side. We should work together with Indian & other Asian countries cricket board who were always with us. Not England, Australia etc who are always trying to put us down.

 

[sherlock]

mmmmmmmm

 

[Eclipse]

wonder y arujuna is doing lyk this.

signing contracts with other countries without asking his own team. damn man. he was a captain of the side once too. doesnt he understand this.

BTW i suspect arujuna has sum link wit da england cricket board. coz since he took office as SLC chief he had travelled to england lyk every month. dats wiered isnt it. and also england players refused to post pone da match coz they r against da IPL as da EWCB is also trying to organize sumthing simmilar. their biggest threat is da IPL. and in IPL who r da stars?? well sri lankans mostly!.

hmmm mayb theyll players will play for IPL!!!

 

[ahamednishadh]

I'm on the players side. We should work together with Indian & other Asian countries cricket board who were always with us. Not England, Australia etc who are always trying to put us down.

agree bro!!

 

[mimi1983]

I'm on the players side. We should work together with Indian & other Asian countries cricket board who were always with us. Not England, Australia etc who are always trying to put us down.

Siraawata macho.......Arjuna is trying to rule here....He doesn't care about the players anymore....He made all this BIG talk before ........Criticizing Thilanga etc.....
Now he has made a Big mess out of it.....He has survived because the players still have some respect......As time goes by he's gonna loose it......
England is feeling the pinch of the IPL, that's the truth.......They don't support Asian countries......We saw it why Champions trophy was postponed.....IPL is a real threat for them......They don't wanna see Asians dominate.......
I think our players should go ahead with the IPL, Coz they weren't informed of this beforehand.......Sri Lanka should not tour England or they could send a second string side.......The English wouldn't like this........

 

[monson]

Arjuna was good as a cricket captain. namuth anith athin maha jara porak. mathakada ashoka college eke lamainta gahapu hati. he's jeolous of others earning some money.